20 posts in this topic

Jim and Dylan filled our backyard garden box (it's nice and big! I'll have to take some pics of it) with soil and we'll be planting those tomato plants soon in it. Jim also planted the rhubarb and asparagus.

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Oh, it was memorable to say the least. Spent it hunting Turkeys in the Whitewater WMA. Came down with a nasty case of food poisoning Friday night and Saturday at the campgrounds . Did not get a Turkey either, hard to hunt them in the last seasons, but it was still all good in the end.

Did manage to call in a couple hens and a Coyote that was looking for an easy Turkey dinner. Imagine his suprise when I finally moved to let he know I was there. He was only 10 yards away or so with some brush and a small dried creek bed between me and him/her.

Had a little Buck check out my decoy as well, walked right up and brushed his nose up agains't it and ran away.

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That is a good point to make. I never thought about the extra torque that is needed for the chipper blades witch I think is why the SM Electra has such a short battery life and NOT to get it confused with SM lithium lazer and no the SM doesn't have reverse. The reverse isn't a huge selling point for me but it is a plus. The more I read comments about ION I might have to get me one.

Very nice work again LRG! Like many others, I have gotten a lot of good information from your postings on here and greatly appreciate it! I am in the process of building a 22' house now myself and know the extra time and effort it takes to document progress. I plan to share some of my experiences when I'm closer to finished. Once again thank you very much for sharing and great work!

Never even thought of that will check but I think it should be fine though.
Seems dark with the skirt laying flat, windows, vents, and doors shut set up in the basement with lots of lights on seems nice and dark. Wouldn't know till I get out there and try it I guess.

I talked to the guys who measure the precip up at the meetings I recently attended. Asked them when they were having the party to celebrate. We were fortunate here. Plenty of rain but managed to escape several of the major poundings they got just 13 miles to the north. More on that here:
This boat is blacked out like a city
Awaiting bombers in the night
While there were no 50 degree highs the scurs and their trusty Weather Eye still kept things above zero and largely above freezing. ? Starting Wednesday, partly sunny with a slight chance of snow. Highs in the low 20’s with lows in the low teens. Thursday, mostly cloudy with a slight chance of snow in the forenoon. Highs in the low 20’s with lows around 10. Mostly sunny Friday with increasing clouds with a modest chance of snow in the evening. Highs in the upper teens with lows in the mid-teens. Saturday, mostly cloudy with a moderate chance of snow. Highs in the mid-20’s with lows in the upper teens. Mostly cloudy on Sunday with a slight chance of forenoon snow. Highs in the mid-20’s with lows in the upper teens. Monday, mostly cloudy with a chance of flurries. Highs in the mid-20’s with lows in the lower double digits. Mostly cloudy for Tuesday with a continued chance for snow showers. Highs in the low 20’s with lows in the mid-single digits, still above zero. The normal high for December 13th is 27 and the normal low is 10. We’ll be down to 8 hours and 56 minutes of daylight on the 13th. The scurs procrastination is paying off once again. With the short days and all the cloudy weather it’s better for napping than shopping anyway.
The Full Moon for the month also will occur on the 13th and is known as the Full Cold Moon, The Moon before the Yule or the Long Nights Moon, aptly named with the short days we are experiencing. The Ojibwe called this the Small Spirits Moon and the Sioux named it the Moon of Popping Trees. At the ranch we know it as the Moon of Frozen Water Buckets.
Measurable snow fell in Bugtussle and at the ranch for the first time this winter season on Saturday night into Sunday a.m. An inch of snow which melted down to .09” of liquid equivalent precipitation. It was all but melted by early afternoon accumulating into the soil which remained unfrozen. The soil profile down to the 5’ depth was had a little over 10” of available moisture in it back on November 2nd. There’s little reason to believe it’s a lot drier than that even though we were slightly below the normal 2.16” of precip at the SROC for last month.
Speaking of the SROC, hats off (and swim fins on) for their recent setting of the annual precipitation record for MN. The record of 53.73” was set back on November 28th; they’ve received more since then and have the rest of December to add to it. Records in Bugtussle are incomplete as the gauge was not functional until April 7th. At the ranch we garnered 43.25” by the end of November. Let’s hope we don’t play catch up.
Some isolated areas of remaining corn were rumored to have been picked but aside from that, very little fieldwork was accomplished this past week. Some are still hoping to get one more crack at some tillage or anhydrous ammonia application although that window will likely close quickly given the forecast. It also remains questionable how well the ground will seal and whether the knives on the applicators will ball up. It really hasn’t dried up to speak of.
At the Lions pancake feed Sunday it was great to see Buddy Shurson in attendance. For those of you who didn’t read the wonderful article that included Buddy a few weeks ago, he was a gunner on a B-17 during WWII. Until after I saw him I’d almost forgotten that Wednesday the 7th marks the 75th anniversary of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. I still remember my parents telling me what dark days in history those were after that. On the farm war time rationing made everyone feel the pinch and there was some jealousy when someone got something they didn’t think you should have. I recall Dad telling about neighbors questioning how he wound up with a small, 12” rubber tire on the mounted International sickle mower he’d purchased. Yes, things were that tight.
Back to the B-17. It was a marvel of modern aviation at the time. When first being developed in the mid-1930’s, it was equipped with Pratt and Whitney engines. However, more power was needed so the engines were switched exclusively to the Wright R-1820-97 turbo-supercharged “Cyclone” that developed 1200 hp apiece. There were four wing mounted engines on this aircraft. While not extraordinary by today’s standards, they were beefy enough to allow the aircraft to limp home even if a couple engines had been knocked out. No small feat for a plane weighing over 36,000 lbs. when empty and 54,000 lbs. when loaded.
Who manufactured the engines? During WWII, one of the manufacturers licensed by Wright to produce them was Studebaker. By the time Pearl Harbor was bombed, the company had already converted much of their assembly line capacity in anticipation of our entry into the war, suspending much of its 1942 model year production. A new plant was added for production of the Cyclone. They built over 63,000 of these radial aircraft engines for the B-17’s in the war effort. From January 1944 through the summer of 1945, all B-17 engines were supplied by Studebaker. The company also built nearly 200,000 trucks most of which went to the Soviet Union and over 15,000 Weasels, an all-terrain tracked vehicle. When I look at the Studebakers in our garage, it gives me an appreciation of their place in American history. When I see Buddy, it also makes me happy to know that somewhere along the line the company probably had an impact on bringing our own local piece of American history back home safely. Thanks Buddy and to all who served!
See you next week…real good then.

With President-elect Donald Trump soon taking office, businesses are optimistic about the soon-to-be-changing economic landscape in the country. United States Steel is one such company that is already planning to do things differently under a Trump administration.
"We already structured to do some things, but when you see in the near future improvement to the tax laws, improvements to regulation, those two things by themselves may be a significant driver to what we're going to do," CEO Mario Longhi said in an interview with CNBC.
"I'd be more than happy to bring back the employees we've been forced to lay off during that depressive period," he added, which "could be close to 10,000 jobs."
OH, MY..

Saw two houses about 50 yards out on a part of wahkon bay yesterday on Mille lacs. Flip over and a hub style one. I think that area was open water on Monday and possibly still on Tue. Be safe people........